New Jersey S 2205: Requires school district to establish "School Meal Fund" to assist students with school meal bill in arrears.

Bill Text

S2205 

SENATE, No. 2205 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Senator M. TERESA RUIZ

District 29 (Essex and Hudson)

Senator SHIRLEY K. TURNER

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

Co-Sponsored by:

Senators A.M.Bucco, O'Scanlon, Zwicker, Diegnan, Space and 
McKnight

SYNOPSIS

���� Eliminates requirement for State residency of public 
school employees for period of three years.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative 
Counsel.

��

An Act concerning the residency of public school employees and 
amending R.S.52:14-7.

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

����� 1.�� R.S.52:14-7 
is amended to read as follows:

����� 52:14-7.� 
a.� Every person holding an office, employment, or position

����� (1)� in 
the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial Branch of this State, or

����� (2)� with 
an authority, board, body, agency, commission, or instrumentality of the State 
including any State college, university, or other higher educational 
institution, and, to the extent consistent with law, any interstate agency to 
which New Jersey is a party, or 

����� (3)� with 
a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the State or an 
authority, board, body, agency, district, commission, or instrumentality of the 
county, municipality, or subdivision, or� 

����� (4)� [with a school district or an authority, board, body, 
agency, commission, or instrumentality of the district,] with a school district, charter school, or 
renaissance school project 
shall have his or her principal 
residence in this State and shall execute such office, employment, or position.

����� This 
residency requirement shall not apply to any person: (a) who is employed on a 
temporary or per-semester basis as a visiting professor, teacher, lecturer, or 
researcher by any State college, university, or other higher educational 
institution, or county or community college, or in a full or part-time position 
as a member of the faculty, the research staff, or the administrative staff by 
any State college, university, or other higher educational institution, or 
county or community college, that the college, university, or institution has 
included in the report required to be filed pursuant to this subsection; (b) 
who is employed full-time by the State who serves in an office, employment, or 
position that requires the person to spend the majority of the person's working 
hours in a location outside of this State; or (c) an officer of the waterfront 
commission of New York harbor, employed by the commission on the effective date 
of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.), who seeks to be transferred to the Division 
of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety pursuant to section 
4 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.53:2-9).

����� This 
residency requirement shall not apply to any person who is hired by the New 
Jersey Transit Corporation as an engineer or mechanic, or any other position 
certified by the board of directors as a position of critical need.

����� For 
the purposes of this subsection, a person may have at most one principal 
residence, and the state of a person's principal residence means the state (1) 
where the person spends the majority of the person's nonworking time, and (2) 
which is most clearly the center of the person's domestic life, and (3) which 
is designated as the person's legal address and legal residence for voting.� 
The fact that a person is domiciled in this State shall not by itself satisfy 
the requirement of principal residency hereunder.

����� A 
person, regardless of the office, employment, or position, who holds an office, 
employment, or position in this State on the effective date of P.L.2011, c.70 
but does not have principal residence in this State on that effective date 
shall not be subject to the residency requirement of this subsection while the 
person continues to hold office, employment, or position without a break in 
public service of greater than seven days.

����� Any 
person may request an exemption from the provisions of this subsection on the 
basis of critical need or hardship from a five-member committee hereby 
established to consider applications for exemptions.� The committee shall be 
composed of three persons appointed by the Governor, a person appointed by the 
Speaker of the General Assembly, and a person appointed by the President of the 
Senate, each of whom shall serve at the pleasure of the person making the 
appointment and shall have a term not to exceed five years.� A vacancy on the 
committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment was 
made.� The Governor shall make provision to provide such clerical, secretarial, 
and administrative support to the committee as may be necessary for it to 
conduct its responsibilities pursuant to this subsection.

����� The 
decision on whether to